St. John Attractions
Read about a family's experience in St. Johns
St. John's East End/Coral Bay (NY Times)An article from the NY Times describing all that there is to do at St. John
There are nice beaches along the north shore road such as Friars Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay, Caneel Bay, etc. Many are often deserted and you can just park your car on the side of the road. At Trunk Bay, you can rent snorkel gear and there’s an underwater snorkel tour which is quite cool (self guided).
Vi’s Beach and food stand (shack) is near our house, 5 minutes away and is quite a nice little beach. She charges $ 3 per person for beach access and she makes outstanding garlic chicken in her little food stand. Real friendly local lady.
The local people are very friendly you’ll find and a pleasant good morning before ordering breakfast is a good idea or they’ll look at you funny. There is very little violent crime on St. John. However St. Thomas has its share of crime so if you go over there for dinner, avoid the dark alleys or out of the way streets downtown at night. The excellent restaurant Herve on St. Thomas is on the hill behind downtown and they have parking right there.
Shopping in St. Thomas is excellent as it’s duty free and a great place to buy fine Swiss watches, electronics, clothes at Tommy Hilfiger and other designers, etc. the town is known as Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas.
St. John has a number of shops in Cruz Bay and a few art and funky local shops scattered around the island.
Take a snorkel trip half day boat to the coral reefs. Easy even for beginners. Some include lunch and free drinks. Snorkel gear provided. Try Captain Dan who has snorkel trips and sunset yacht cruise rides at (340) 776-4037 or email him at dristuc@aol.com
A really cool thing is to take a rented power boat or sailboat over to Jost Van Dyke for the Soggy Dollar Bar which is quite a party bar. Or the famous Foxy’s bar(s) (there are now 2 of them on the island). You can even rent a small power boat and do it yourself but don’t attempt this if you’ve never driven (piloted?) a boat before (or plan on partying heavily at Soggy Dollar Bar). Technically a passport is needed but I’m sure no one checks any id’s or anything else at Soggy Dollar or foxy’s. If you take the scheduled ferry over, a passport is definitely required but pretty simple to clear bvi customs (as they know people are coming over to party). It’s only a 20 minute boat ride.
Kayak 3 hour trip: www.arawakexp.com or call (340) 693-8312